With one powerful stroke after the other, a swimmer athlete of the Basic Education Department (BED) of Our Lady of Fatima University (OLFU)- Quezon City Campus, surpassed the roadblocks set by the COVID-19 pandemic and swam his way to the Top 4th spot in the PSI Swimming National Selection Bubble last October 22 to 24, 2021. PSI stands for the Philippine Swimming, Inc., the host of the said event held in New Clark City, Tarlac.
OLFU-BED’s young man who has brought (and continues to bring) much honor to his school is Arbeen Miguel B. Thruelen, a 9th grader and a long-time member of OLFU’s Young Phoenix Swimming Team. Thruelen’s magnificent Top 4th finish in the PSI competition automatically qualifies him to represent the Philippines in the FINA World Swimming Championships slated in 2021-2022 in Abu Dhabi (UAE) and Fukuoka, Japan.
Significantly, Thruelen’s October win also automatically qualifies him to try out for the prestigious 31st Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in early 2022.
With his game face on, Thruelen has taken a deep dive into training and conditioning.
Last October’s PSI competition was truly a feat by Thruelen and his co-athletes, noted PSI President Lailani Velasco who shared that it was the athletes’ first swim meet in over two years. She remarked:
“To be honest, there were plenty of hurdles that we needed to overcome. I have to admit that at some point, we doubted it would even happen. But we’ve worked hard for this since early this year and we did not want to let our community down. This was really for our members and for the entire country. We wanted to show the country that we can recover from this pandemic through sports… through swimming,”
– Source: Tiebreaker Times
And recover and amaze, Thruelen does. For OLFU and for the nation. Rise to the top!
